Posts Tagged ‘sketch’

Elana Fishbein was in the first ever show at Magnet. And she was really good. 10 years later she’s an improviser, actor, writer, and teacher. She has Master’s Degree in Educational Theater from NYU, leads our Youth Program, and co-created two professional development workshop series for teachers: “Beyond Winging It: Improv in the Classroom” and “Play.” She can be seen with Story Pirates on stage and heard with The Truth Podcast your headphones. All in all, you’ve got a super funny improviser with interesting things to say about it. Listen to this great episode where Louis Kornfeld goes deep into the idea of forcing yourself to be vulnerable, improv accountability, shared ownership, and Canada. Enjoy!

18-time Moth StorySlam Champion (2-time GrandSlam Champion) and Magnet instructor, Adam Wade, as interviewed by Alex Marino. Adam Wade is an actor and storyteller based in NYC. He was recently seen on Comedy Central’s ‘Inside Amy Schumer’. Adam has been featured on The Moth Podcast numerous times and has performed at renowned NYC shows such as The Moths Main Stage, The Nights of Our Lives, The Rejection Show, The Liar Show, Mortified, Stripped Stories, Speakeasy Stories, and True Tales From College (which he is the co-producer and co-host of). He has appeared on the NFL NETWORKs Top 10 Football Follies, ESPNs Mayne Street and ESPN CLASSICs Classic Now where he interviewed such legends as Mike Ditka and Reverend Run from RUN DMC. He was a featured performer on Comedy Central’s Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and NBCs Late Night with Conan OBrien. He has written for NY Times, NY Press, Glamour Magazine, ESPN The Magazine and Hoboken Reporter.

I’m very happy to share this recording from the archive of Craig Cackowski interviewed live onstage at Magnet Theater by the well-prepared Louis Kornfeld. Craig and I were in class together with Del Close, on our first IO teams together, and when I was promoted from understudy, Second City placed me in his touring company. We did a lot of scenes from the Razowsky/Colbert/Carell and McKay/Adsit eras. He was great to tour with because he’s both reliable onstage in scenes and touring the country for long stretches in a van. Usually people are one or the other, but he was both. Onstage he’s casual but precise, and he’s got great timing both as an audience-pleasing comedian (in the good way) and as an improv partner. He rescues things, and if it can’t be rescued, he’ll go down with the ship. And it seems like he’s really enjoying himself either way. And since I’m on a roll here, I should mention he’s become one of the best, most sought after improv instructors in Los Angeles. Possibly because he’s committed to the things we learned in those classes with Del. But also because he’s sensitive to the advancements that have been made as long-form has evolved from an obscure experiment in the basement of an anonymous Chicago apartment building 24 years ago to the dominant comedy language spoken across America and beyond. And that’s thanks in no small part to Craig. So listen to this episode and see if you can hear what I hear – a genuinely good guy who cares about what he does, does it well, and has no need for false bluster. Enjoy. — Ed Herbstman PS: Craig is okay. But his little sister is like, 12 times funnier than him and at least twice as funny as me. Hi, Craig. Subscribe to the Magnet Theater Podcast via iTunes here.Enjoy Episode #11 on iTunes or below via SoundCloud.

Lane Kwederis is a sketch performer at Magnet (she and I are the two women on the sketch house team, Party.) Lane also performs with her indie improv team, Power Nap, and her PIT musical team, [Title of Team] (That’s the actual title of the team, not a placeholder for this article). She’s got skills. And she’s a wonderful person.

And I got to ask her some brilliant questions. I’m such a good interviewer. Check it out:

Reductress.com is the first and only fake women’s news magazine. They parody the entertainment, advertising, and other media sources that women consume daily. Forbes named it one of the top 100 websites for women last year. And it’s super funny.

Now you can listen as Magnet’s Alex Marino interviews these smart and funny writers on the nuts and bolts of creating a comedy platform, their process, how you can submit your writing, and where they are headed. This episode was recorded earlier this year at Magnet Training Center.

Magnet Theater Artistic Director Megan Gray, in conversation with her boyfriend of 16 years, Louis Kornfeld. They talk about extremely personal intimate details regarding their deepest fears. Or maybe it’s more about teaching, performing and learning improv, building communities, and creating connections. The only way to find out is to give it a listen.

In this episode of The Magnet Theater Podcast, Louis Kornfeld talks with Chet Siegel. She was raised in West Virginia, and now lives in New York City. And she’s a girl. Find out how on the latest episode. She’s an improviser, teacher, sketch writer and newly named director of the Magnet Sketch program. She performs with The Armando Diaz Experience, The Weave, Kiss:Punch:Poem, Magnet TourCo, & her sketch team, The Misses. At UCB, she performs with the Harold team, Women & Men.

Find out what she’s doing with the sketch program at Magnet, the mechanics of a good sketch, and how performers can succeed when tackling sketch when coming from improvisation training.

We are now accepting applications for the Circuit Summer 2014 season! Circuit teams are made up of Magnet Theater students, graduates of our training program and veteran performers. We believe that in order to get better at improv, you need to do it.

The deadline to apply is Sunday, June 29 at noon. Teams will be announced Tuesday, July 1. Shows will begin Friday, July 11. Teams will perform Friday nights at 10:30 for seven weeks. If you have any questions email Circuit [at] Magnettheater [dot] com.

Have you listened to the Magnet Theater Podcast yet? Why NOT? Get in on it before you fall behind. In the latest episode, Louis Kornfeld sits down with Magnet Performer and Instructor Peter McNerney! They chat about the fear of making choices, failing in order to succeed and the joy of making lies. Wanna justify lying all the time?